


when i said i loved you

by waituntilnovember



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Kissing, M/M, One-sided feelings, Unrequited Love, archie doesn’t understand feelings, kind of a sad read, the boys are youtubers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:06:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24140083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waituntilnovember/pseuds/waituntilnovember
Summary: archie looked guilty and jughead hated that. it wasn’t his fault jughead had these feelings. it wasn’t his fault jughead wanted something he couldn’t have.—aka jughead loves archie but he doesn’t feel the same
Relationships: Archie Andrews & Jughead Jones, Archie Andrews/Jughead Jones
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	when i said i loved you

“i wasn’t lying when i said that i loved you.” it came out as no more than a broken whisper, words that jughead had thought time and time again, but had never wanted to say out loud. now that they were out, they seemed to linger in the air, thick, choking him.

“jug...” archie’s voice was soft. so soft it sounded forced.

he sounded like he actually cared, like he didn’t want to hurt jughead. that was, perhaps, the worst part. to think archie could sound so fond and protective while he so casually broke jughead’s heart.

“you don’t have to say anything,” jughead said, a desperate attempt to stop a horrible conversation before it began. archie ruined everything, though, and they’d both had a little bit to drink, so of course, of course it wasn’t that easy. “i want to, though. you’re my buddy, jughead. i don’t want you to be sad.”

buddy. as much as a thing as it was for them, hearing that just stung. because yeah, he was archie’s buddy, nothing more. and he never would be anything more, and god, he was such an idiot for ever even thinking to tell archie how he felt.

“i’m not... sad,” jughead assured him, which was at least partially true. it was probably about as good as he was going to get.

“good,” archie said, wrapping his arms around jughead and resting his head on his shoulder.

it made jughead’s heart skip a beat— two, even— which was so dumb, because they did this shit all the time. but it was different when it wasn’t on camera, wasn’t it? they were supposed to act a certain way when they were filming, because it was a part of who they were. it was a part of why their subscribers continued to click each and every video with the two of them.

but it wasn’t just them. it was betty, it was veronica, it was archie and whoever the hell he was out with. it was most certainly not just something reserved for jughead, no matter what he would like to think.

“archie,” he finally managed to get out, “you can’t keep doing this to me. it’s not fair.” 

archie sat up straight and looked the boy in the eye for a moment, or at least until jughead looked away.

“i’m sorry,” archie said, and jughead knew he meant it.

“s’okay. it’s... it’s not your fault. i shouldn’t have said anything to you in the first place, i knew...” he couldn’t bring himself to continue. he shouldn’t have said anything in the first place when he knew archie didn’t feel the same way, jughead thought. he pretty much just wanted to disappear at that point, because archie was still sitting awfully close, and as much as he absolutely hated it, he could feel tears beginning to prick at his eyes.

archie looked guilty and jughead hated that. it wasn’t his fault jughead had these feelings. it wasn’t his fault jughead wanted something he couldn’t have.

“you knew what?” archie asked softly, and jughead knew immediately that he couldn’t answer. he just shook his head and stood up.  
“come on, arch, we have videos to film,” jughead said, because he really needed archie to finish up and get out. “that is why you came over, remember?” there was a long moment where nothing happened, but eventually archie stood up, too, walking over to where jughead was by the door. “yeah,” he agreed. “but…”  
“but what?” it came out too harsh, and jughead had to bite back an immediate apology.

this was so, so stupid, because they were such good friends, and they really did need to film their videos, and jughead knew that nothing was going to change between them. it wasn’t like archie was going to hate him or anything like that. nothing had to change.  
archie didn’t answer and— and archie’s lips were against his, and jughead didn’t know what the fuck to do. so he just stood there like an idiot until it was over, trying to process so many things at once.  
“uh, juggie?”  
“i—archie, don’t, seriously,” he said, voice already shaking. “if you’re fucking with me—”  
“i would never. i care about you, jug.”  
like a friend, jughead thought. this wasn’t real, and he fucking knew it, he knew it from the way archie had laughed when it had been brought up in the first place. he hadn’t taken it seriously for a second, not until today, not until jughead made him. he knew it from the taste of booze still lingering on archie’s lips. “archie, can we please just talk about this later?”

archie nodded, and after another long moment of quiet, jughead got the camera ready, and they sat back down. they took another minute, after that, not speaking, trying to make it look like they were good friends, because they were, and if something was wrong, their viewers would spot it a million miles out.  
“hey guys, my name is archie andrews, and i’m here today with my best friend, jughead jones…”  
and archie put an arm around jughead’s shoulders, and jughead smiled, like he was making a youtube video with his best friend, and not in love.

they did a video for jug’s channel, too, and then jughead pretended he was tight on time and had an important call, which was such bullshit, and they both knew it. but if archie could lie, he could, too, he figured, and tried not to feel guilty. 

archie left, and jughead didn’t have a call, and they didn’t talk about it.

**Author's Note:**

> bruh this made me sad. comments are always appreciated <3


End file.
